Success Starts When You Let Go of These Entrepreneurial Myths

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Week 323 | Entrepreneurship Section | 2

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Success Starts When You Let Go of These Entrepreneurial Myths

By Chrystal L. | Entrepreneur Magazine | November 22, 2023

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Whether you’re preparing to launch your first business or you’ve been an entrepreneur for a while, not to fall for the following founder fables.

Myth 1: Leadership requires traveling a lonely road.  Certainly, entrepreneurship can be a lonely place, but only if you choose to not step out of your comfort zone and network.  There are so many resources and places to turn to for help. You just have to be intentional and seek out people and tools to support and guide you.  People are eager to help you when you put yourself out there, are vulnerable about what you need and set your ego aside. As long as you are able to embrace your naivete (we’re all naive about something), you’ll find that others will share everything from their best insights to their top connections.

Myth 2: You need a fearless mindset to move mountains.  Being afraid makes sense.  Majority of the entrepreneurs have all been afraid at some point. The key is not that they’re fearless but that they’re willing to “do it while they’re scared.”  What you DO have to do is release yourself from thinking you have to be perfect and know everything. Lean into the fact that small and large failures will happen. Your role is to learn from them, talk about them and allow yourself to fail forward again and again. It’s scary, but it’s the right way to keep growing.

Myth 3: Your innovations have to be groundbreaking.  You’ve heard the saying, “There is nothing new under the sun.” It’s true in most cases. Stop thinking you have to innovate from the ground up. You don’t. You just need to do something better.  Of course, when you hit upon your gold mine idea, you need to present it so that people see why it’s different (it’s not always obvious to outsiders why your innovation is an improvement).

Myth 4: You need to grow your network as fast as possible.  You’ll need a solid network as an entrepreneur, but you have to be exceedingly strategic.  Need to have a systematic networking process that based on not just meet people but thoughtfully build connections. Rather than being organic, it should be all planned based on solid networking strategies for entrepreneurs.

You’ll need to handle quite a bit as an entrepreneur. Just don’t make things harder than they need to be by believing all the myths and hype. Rather, hold tight to a truth that one of the author’s mentors said to her: “You’re built for this.”

3 key takeaways from the article

1. Two things are certain when you embark on an entrepreneurial venture. The first? You’ll get plenty of advice. The second? You’ll get loads of well-intentioned warnings.  Sometimes, the two will overlap.  Unfortunately, you will run into myths about entrepreneurship (and tech entrepreneurship) everywhere you go.
2. Whether you’re preparing to launch your first business or you’ve been an entrepreneur for a while, not to fall for the following founder fables: leadership requires traveling a lonely road, you need a fearless mindset to move mountains, your innovations have to be groundbreaking, and you need to grow your network as fast as possible.
3. You’ll need to handle quite a bit as an entrepreneur. Just don’t make things harder than they need to be by believing all the myths and hype. Rather, hold tight to a truth that one of the author’s mentors said to her: “You’re built for this.”

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Topics:  Entrepreneurship, Startups, Uncertainity